Golf packages on Chinas tropical Island Hainan in Sanya, Haikou and Shenzhou Peninsula

Hainan, Chinas Golf Paradise

Hainan is and Island and only since 1988 an official province of China and located around 30 km south of Guangzi located in the South China Sea. Hainan has a population of around 10 Mio and most of them are ethnic Han Chinese whereas the rest are members of the Li, Miao, Hui and Zhuang minorities.
The main part of the economy is based on the pearl industry, fishing and the agricultural industry, mainly fruits such as Banana, Pineapple, Oranges and various nuts are cultivated. More and more tourism takes an important part of Hainan's eceonomical development and Hainan is often branded as the "Hawaii of China" or "Tropical Island". Most of the tourism industry is located in the south in and around Sanya, whereas the north with the Capital Haikou is less touristy. However, since Mission Hills established its Golf Resort near Haikou, more and more golfers are attracted to the area. For golfing, Hainan can be roughly divided into three different sectors. There is Mission Hills and a few other courses in the north around Haikou, the area in the south around Sanya and the East around Lingshui and Wanning whose golf courses are located at the Clearwater Bay and the Shenzhou Peninsula (The Dunes).

Mission Hills Haikou

Mission Hills Haikou has a 5* Hotel as base and ten 18-hole golf courses which are divided into a north and a south sector and the club houses are around 15 minutes bus ride away from each other. In the north part, the Clubhouse is right next to the hotel and from there you can access the golf courses of Blackstone, Sandbelt Trails, The Vintage, Stepping Stone and Lava Fields. In the south you can find the courses Meadow Links, Stone Quarry, Double Pin, The Preserve and Shadow Dunes.
Especially Blackstone, The Vintage, Lava Fields, Stone Quarry and Shadow Dunes are meanwhile counted among the classic and iconic golf courses in China.
The hotel offers a large pool area which is especially great for kids and apart from the pool area Mission Hills has sort of a Spa Theme Park with 168 small pools and the design is themed on the different continents and countries of the world. The hotel offers a range of different restaurants such as a Japanese, Chinese, Grill and the all-day restaurant with international cuisine.



Sanya

The hotel resorts of Sanya are located along the different Bays of the area. In the beginning the touristic development started at Dadonghai Beach, followed by Yalong Bay and the latest addition is the Haitang Bay. At Dadonghai Beach you can find numerous hotels in the 3-4* category mainly catering to Chinese and Russian group tourists whereas in the 5* level there is Mandarin Oriental and Banyan Tree. Mandarin Oriental Sanya offers a great resort but it's not ideal for beach lovers. Next to Dadonghai you can find the 18 hole Luhuitou Golf course (Robin Neslon und Neil Haworth) whereas Dragon Bay golf course(Schmidt-Curley) is a 30 minutes drive away

At theYalong Bay there are more or less only 5* Hotels to be found, namely St. Regis, Pullman, Hilton, Ritz Carlton, Raffles, Sheraton, MGM and many other. Some of those resorts are already there since around 10 years whereas others are only opened since 2-3 years. Every single of the hotel has a unique feature in some way, but most also have a unique downside, so its strongly advised to get well informed when choosing a hotel at Yalong Bay. Hiddenchina.net knows the hotels very well and can consult and recommend you which of the hotels is most suitable for your specific needs.
In the area you can find the golf courses Yalong Bay (Robert Trent Jones II) and Sun Valley (IMP Design, Ian Costello, Marc Hollinger and Robert Moore)

The newly developed area around Haitang Bay ist just being built up but offers already some of the best hotels on the Island. Especially the Intercontinental Haitang Resort and Spa ist noteworthy. With an investment of 2.5 Billion USD it is not only massive in size, but very well built. Next to it you can find Westin, Conrad and Kempinski and more are under construction such as Sofitel, Sheraton and Atlantis just to mention a few. By the end of 2014 the world's largest duty free shop will open its doors right in between Intercontinental Haitang Bay and Westin. At the moment there are no golf course right beside Haitang Bay, but all golf courses can be reached without too much driving, hence Haitang Bay is a great place to stay for golfers. The courses whic are closest are the challenging courses of Forest Valley (ATDL) and Mystic Springs (Robin Neslon und Neil Haworth)

Shenzhou Peninsula and Clearwater Bay

In 2011 opened, Shenzhou Peninsula with the 5* Sheraton and 4* 4-Points by Sheraton managed to get from the beginning into the highest league of golfing in China. The 36 hole "The Dunes" Golf course has been rated in 2014 as second best golf course in China (after members only Club Sheshan in Shanghai) and can be considered as the best public golf course of China. The Dunes (Tom Weiskopf) play like a classic Links Course and offers some spectacular vistas especially around the holes 14-16. The Sheraton offers nice rooms and a great service and for golfers who have time, we recommend to stay 4-5 nights to play each course at least twice to get a mximum of fun out of the golf play.
Between Shenzhou and Sanya there is the Clearwater Bay with a Raffles Hotel and the Clearwater Bay course (Schmidt-Curley), which is also strongly recommended when being in the area.